Emit at the JK

[distracted]

oh, and in the name of consistency, EMIT-cards are typically referred to as 'bricks'...

Norwegians (scandis in general?) refer to e-cards as 'brikke' I think...

[P2B]

Father Christmas brought 'brikkes' to the house this year and having taken the time to watch the accompanying DVD and pay attention to punching methods I was very happy using my new present at the Around Aldershot at the weekend (brill event - again ).

Having been brought up in the SI camp I am now appreciating the worth of Emit. I think T5's post about 'educating the masses' is the way forward.

Looking forward to the JK

[redkite]

Spent a few minutes at lunchtime looking to see which events to enter this spring and was suprised to see that 3 (NWO district and TVOC and BKO regional)were all using emit. Must be getting more popular.

[Safety]

Does this mean orienteers competing at national events will now be expected to have both forms of e-card, just in case the other type is used. In the past I have found it easy. Own an SI card and if it is E-mit hire one, but if E-mits are going to be used more then this may not be as clear cut. Not making a complaint here, just an observation. Seems like it is similar to the PC versus Mac argument, the first one launchs onto the market in a large scale, and then the second one slowly catches up.

Anyway I was very impressed with the V3 E-mit units when I used them at the Scottish 6 days mountain bike O a couple of years back. Don't see the point of the screen though as surely you are supposed to be reading your map, visualizing the next control and planning your routes to future controls rather than looking at your split time for the last leg. I still prefer SI cards though probably because I'm used to them and have just bought a new one after loosing my old one.

[Tatty]

THe Emit screen was very useful at the Greenham Common Score eevent as it shows time since the start. Even then I still managed to be late by being too ambitious near the end.

[PeteL]

Most of this thread has focussed on the 'customers', i.e. the competitors. What do people think about the merits of each system for planners? As all electronic events I've planned have been with emit and dead easy to organise, I'm not really able to make a comparison, although I have heard people comment that SI units have to be programmed (or should that be programed as it's IT speak), which seems to imply that it's more complicated.

What's great about emit for C4/C5 events is that we print out splits at download on the portable (compact camera-sized) printer, meaning that laptops/standard printers aren't required.

[seabird]

For the planner si does not produce any real work. You just email your course planning file to the si manager who in turn gives you the units to put out already programmed.

Doubtless the si manager has some work to do. Best to let them comment on that.

[Marco Polo]

I think Seabird's reply highlights the problem with SI in planning exactly. Using SI doesn't create extra work for planners if you have an SI manager (or SI team) but they are all extra volunteer roles that need to filled by experienced people. If you want to use electronic punching for all events down to C5s then for SI, you need to find SI support for all those events (or planners have to learn how to program SI boxes). For EMIT at least, the set up from the planners point of view is not very different from pin punching. The complications really start when you have to tell the results software what your courses are- which applies to EMIT and SI.

[Tatty]

Since changing over to using EMIT we have had more people willing to plan as they don't need so mush computer knowledge. It was a problem when our SI buff went off to the States on business. Not all clubs are lucky enough to have a "SI Manager"!!

[FatBoy]

With the new SI units you can simply synch the time/clear backup using the special SI unit provided. As long as the planner is told the range of control numbers to use reprogramming for C4/5 is not necessary. Yes it is still more than with Emit, but not really that bad a task.

However surely in the grand scheme of running an event programming controls is fairly irrelevant. If your SI/Emit person is not around for the event how are you going to run download??

[Marco Polo]

Fatboy, that's a good point. For C5s, you could get away without a full results service on the day. You can produce splits printouts and people do get their times. However, for a C4, you do really do need a full results service on the day with support. So I would say that the advantage to planners is at the informal end of the spectrum.

I'd agree that newer SI equipment is easier to use and the amount of programming can be reduced consderably compared to the early style blocks.

I have planned with both and definitely prefer EMIT for informal events. However I think that an SI set up needing little support is becoming easier to do.

[Steve]

The complications really start when you have to tell the results software what your courses are- which applies to EMIT and SI.

Don't know about SI but with Emit you just produce the courses text file (can't remember it's proper name right now) in OCAD and email it to the results team. Couldn't be easier.

Yeah, planning with EMIT is really easy, and on the day you just carry them into the forest and knock them into the ground.

[jondub]

Using the new style SI units is very easy for small events. The planner just has to be told which numbers are available and they can then send the courses from Condes or O-CAD. Results are very easy too. We use it for all our smaller events, especially junior courses as children new to the support seem to get a real buzz out of using the system,

Our club has invested a fair bit of time in trainig people on how to use the system so that we are not reliant on an 'SI specialist'. In fact for smaller events (i.e. 3 courses, less than 50 competitors) the planner runs the SI system as well. This is probably an area that other clubs might want to look at. There is definitiely a tendancy for people to be reluctant to spread their knowledge, or for other people to take on running the system, especially if they are not that IT literate.

[Paul Frost]

What's great about emit for C4/C5 events is that we print out splits at download on the portable (compact camera-sized) printer, meaning that laptops/standard printers aren't required.

We do exactly the same with our SI kit (there is a battery operated printer & download box available). If you want, you can interrogate the download box and import the data into your event management software and produce full results/reports when you get home.